Onderwêreld deur Fanie Viljoen | RAT | English Summary | Onderwereld

 

Onderwêreld deur Fanie Viljoen

RAT

The meeting with the police is the only thing Greg can think about and despite getting away with the hacking this time, Greg worries about the possibility that he could get dragged further into the mess with Eckhardt. He eats his lunch quickly and goes to rugby practice, careful not to ruffle Doc Pienaar’s feathers. He thinks about the strange note he found on his bag when he was in the bathroom, wondering who could have put it there.

He visits Eckhardt’s blogs, where he finds information on how to infiltrate Lawson’s school network, among other things. Greg uses the information to get to the other side of the firewall; however, the username and password he got from Eckhardt’s blogs do not grant him entry.

He realises that the school knows that someone has infiltrated the network before and thus changed the passcode to the server room as well as the admin username and passwords for the firewall. Greg’s eyes dart around Eckhardt’s site again and catch the word “Backdoor”. He types the relevant IP address into the search bar and it also fails. Frustrated, Greg goes to the Hang-Out to get coffee, as well as to think of a new plan. He thinks about how to use what he learned from Eckhardt. He goes back to his room and sees a link for something called a RAT – Remote Access Trojan, a program that grants a hacker remote access to a computer. Eckhardt’s written thoughts on the blog about the RAT mentioned that with a little modification, the program can be used without the user on the other side realising.

Greg decides that he will install a RAT on Doc Pienaar’s computer. He knows he cannot just walk into the office, so he employs a different method: social engineering. It is 2 pm, meaning that he has two hours before the end of the workday. He finds the school’s contact numbers on a brochure and calls Joan Gibbs. Greg pretends to be another man who needs to speak to Doc Pienaar before he leaves for Johannesburg the next day. Greg’s story is not very well put together, but he gleans vital information, such as Doc Pienaar’s schedule for the rest of the day. He knows that Doc has a meeting from 3 pm to 4 pm – hours in which his office will be empty. Greg convinces Joan that he will be coming to drop something off for Doc Pienaar. He will call Joan again between 3 pm and 4 pm, but he has rugby practice at half-past 3. He plans on going for half an hour before faking a hamstring injury so that he can go back to his room to make the call. He also needs to remember the name of the system administrator (Thompson), but he cannot recall some of the details he gleaned from eavesdropping on Doc Pienaar and Mr. Andersen the night the police first came to Lawson.

“A good hacker must have a good memory,” Greg remembers Eckhardt’s words, but he did not know that he would need such a thing as a system administrator’s name. He gets his story straight and decides to call one of the other secretaries.

Greg stammers through his call again, pretending to be phoning from a technology company. He tells Madelein, the secretary, that he is aware that the school’s information has recently been compromised, which she confirms. He claims to be concerned, asking her for the contact details of the system administrator at Lawson College so that he can find out what happened, lest this happen to one of the fake schools for which Greg’s fake tech company provides security. Madelein is convinced and she gives Greg the name and phone number of Deon Thompson of Harrismith Technology. When the call ends, Greg goes back to his rugby practice, thinking about how he will talk to Joan when he goes to the office. Greg fakes his injury at practice in an Oscar-worthy bit of acting, hobbling off the field to his room. He locks the door. Nervous, he repeats what he plans to say in his head a few times and takes a deep breath.

“Good afternoon, Joan. I am André from Harrismith Technologies.” He asks about the upgrades to the computer system. Joan tells him that everything is working well, so Greg follows up by asking if they received the security patch that he sent to Deon. She tells him that they have not, which leads Greg into telling her that the alleged patch is a vital part of their antivirus program. He says that because it is getting late, he could continue with the installations the following day, starting with Doc Pienaar’s computer. Since he is going to Johannesburg on personal matters, he will not be clocking into the office. Greg tells Joan that Doc Pienaar’s absence is a major vulnerability, further adding that she and the school would not like a repeat of what happened previously, referring to the infiltration of the school network.

Joan offers to help in any way she can. Greg prompts her to install the program on Doc Pienaar’s behalf. She tells him that she has the Doc’s passwords, to which Greg feigns concern, teasingly lecturing her about how dangerous it is to be sharing passwords. Without breaking character, he prompts Joan to give him the Doc’s username and password under the pretence that he needs them to activate the patch. He also asks for Doc Pienaar’s email address, which he should have if he is who he says he is, but Joan does not think twice about giving Greg, or rather, “André”, the information.

Greg sends the RAT to the Doc’s email address using the fake Harrismith Technologies email address he created. Greg prompts Joan to disable the antivirus before opening the email and launching the program found in the attachment, attempting to give her a general walkthrough because he does not know what antivirus program they use. When Joan finally launches the program, nothing happens on screen, but Greg knows that the RAT is installed. He tries to mask the excitement in his voice, telling Joan that he will check if he sent her the correct patch before calling back. At the end of the call, Greg jumps for joy, experiencing the buzz that hackers live for. He runs over his script for his next call to Joan, readying himself to tell her that he sent her an older version of the program because Deon told him that their computers do not need that patch. She tells him that that is good to hear, and Greg responds he will contact them if there are any updates. He did not remind Joan to switch the antivirus program back on because that will make his entry much easier.

SummariesKeroshan PillayComment